Who Won the Scripps National Spelling Bee? These 2 Boys Stole The Show

The nation watched in anticipation as 10 of the best young spellers in the country duked it out on May 26 to see who among them can truly spell all the tough words. Bibliophiles, word enthusiasts, and pop culture fans around the country are d-y-i-n-g to know: Who won the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

After a tight battle, the judges announced Nihar Janga and Jairam Hathwar as co-champions of this year's spelling bee, making them the third set of tied winners in the past three years.

The competition began Tuesday, May 24, with a preliminary written test, and by Thursday morning, only 45 remained. Each round got more and more difficult as contestants tripped up over words like "salele" (a word of Samoan origin, and the name of a silver-colored fish), and "Liechtenstein" (a European country). After the seventh round, 10 finalists entered the final round Thursday night, and after an hours-long event, Hathwar and Janga became co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

As the contest heated up, Twitter was abuzz with speculation on who would win the hard-fought Bee. Many users figuratively put their money behind Janga, a first-time contestant and the youngest of the finalists at age 11. However, 13-year-old Snehaa Kumar was almost as popular on the social network's #spellingbee hashtag as she, Janga, and Hathwar became the final three contestants before she was disqualified on the word "usucapion" (a property-title term).

As viewers cheered on their champions, there was much to celebrate — between the memes, the nicknames and "the dreaded schwa," this year's Bee proved that intelligence and diversity can dominate airwaves and social media.